Since all I do is for free, and my sole income is social security, it has not been easy, especially now that I must pay rent for the space I use for the “Helping-Hands Books & Donation Center.” Were it not for the incredible generosity of the local couple who provided rent-free space for three and a half years, there never would have been one. That, and the occasional donations of merchandise from a few local businesses are what have allowed me to provide free clothing, shoes, household items and books to all the in-need folks here, in addition to holding an annual “Christmas-Gift-Away” event, for the most needy families, so they can have at least one nice gift for each child.
The wonderful thing about the HHC, or Helping-Hands Center, is that all of the needed items that people find here are donated by their own neighbors, since I tell all who come that if they bring me anything they find in their homes that they aren’t using, I’ll give it to someone who needs it. So, this is a community-supported “help thy neighbor” project that can be duplicated anywhere at all where there are people in need. Of the books I give away, though 90 percent do come from kind people all over the world, who help me help Tinian in return for me helping them with writing, the other 10 percent also come from our own people sharing with each other. Now, isn’t that how we all wish our entire world would work?
Of course it is. To most of us, anyway. Which brings me to the reason I’m writing this letter to all of you. In the years I have been living here and doing what I can to be useful, not only have my many appeals for official support of the Donation Center; a shelter for abused women I have planned and ready to be implemented; and plan for establishing an international Peace Center on Tinian that would provide a solid and permanent economic base been constantly ignored, but so have my offers of help in other areas, where I could really be of major assistance in making the lives of all here better, safer, and healthier.
I’m speaking now of the seriously troubled Tinian Health Center. My background in the health and medical field has allowed me to be able to assess its problems and map out a plan to address them and bring what is now a facility that would be condemned and razed, if in the US, up to at least minimum standards of health and safety.
To that end, over the past two years, I have done on-site inspections, prepared and submitted numerous reports, assessments, operations protocols and such, all of which have been ignored by those who were in the recent past and now currently are officially in charge of the facility and thus responsible for its shameful condition.
All of this was done pro bono, while officials paid out almost $60,000 to a stateside consultant whose reports didn’t cover even a tenth of what my free ones have. In addition, my offer of free services as a consultant, to help them upgrade the THC facility and its services to the sick and injured of our island has also been ignored.
Not even been acknowledged! Now, how busy can a mayor, or a clinic director be, that you/they can’t even manage a simple, courteous, “Thanks, but ‘no thanks’!”? And can you think of any logical reason why you/they would turn down such an offer, anyway, when things are in such bad shape budget-wise?
I invite anyone who reads this letter to contact me for copies of the reports, et al. that I’ve been dropping into the black hole of officialdom for so long. It’s time that the people who depend on THC for their care when needed, and on their elected officials who appoint its director, to read what those who are in a position to do something about the mess don’t bother to. Learn about all the disgustingly unsafe/unhealthy conditions there that could be so easily corrected, if anyone in charge would just take time to sit down with me and discuss my reports and proposed “cures” instead of saying, “I’ll get back to you on it,” but then never do and/or never even say that much. Probably never having read them thoroughly…or at all!
Yes, I’m angry. Wouldn’t you be? Shouldn’t you be? I’m addressing all the people of Tinian and CNMI in this part of my letter now, not your elected/appointed officials, who seem to prefer that I stay invisible and unheard. I have detailed plans not only for improving our only health facility on Tinian, but for establishing donation centers such as I’ve been running so successfully here, on both Saipan and Rota, as well as for shelters for abused women and their children that can help break the cycle of abuse so prevalent here and everywhere, and for a Peace Center of global renown that would bring both money and prestige to our islands, without the destructive downsides that gaming and the military bring with them.
Those plans too, are available to any of you who read this and want to see what CNMI can be, versus what it is now. If enough of you care enough and need/want positive change enough, we may be able to bring it about together, in spite of the officialdom that seems to prefer remaining blind, deaf, and dumb, rather than accept the free gift of sight and help I’ve been offering in vain. I can be reached at [email protected] or 670-433-9993 any day of the week, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
MAIA
writer/philosopher/mentor,
founder of:
The Matera Community
Helping-Hands Books
& Donation Center
My Sister’s Keeper
(shelter for abused women)
The P.A.X. Center, Tinian
www.saysmom.com
